The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for verifying the means of payment for an article to be vended and, in particular, to an apparatus for automatically checking coins and reading cards inserted into a vending machine.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,097 shows an electronic parking meter which accepts coins or parking cards in payment for parking time. The coins and the parking cards are placed into the same slot which merges into a collective chute in which two switches are mounted. A first one of the switches is operated by coins and the other one of the switches is operated by parking cards. As soon as the first switch is operated by a coin, a microprocessor is switched from a waiting state into an operating state and instantaneously a coin discriminator or checker is actuated. The microprocessor is also switched from the waiting state to the operating state by the operation of the second switch by a parking card and reads data from the parking card in order for the microprocessor to recognize a valid parking card.
A disadvantage of the above described equipment is that the user of the parking meter can not recognize that a coin or a parking card has become stuck in the chute until he or she attempts to use the meter. Furthermore, the single slot prevents the use of one means of payment once the other means of payment has become stuck.